Jeremy Hermida
Jeremy Ryan Hermida (born January 30, 1984 in Atlanta, Georgia) is an outfielder in Major League Baseball who plays for the Boston Red Sox. He bats left-handed and throws right-handed. Major League career After graduating from Wheeler High School in Marietta, Georgia, Hermida was the Marlins' No. 1 draft pick (11th overall) in the 2002 Major League Baseball Draft. He was one of the highest-rated minor league players that season, Hermida was a rising star in minor league baseball before being brought up. The Marlins were not looking for him to make a significant contribution the way Miguel Cabrera did when he was brought up from Double-A in June , but Hermida has been compared to Braves' rookie Jeff Francoeur ever since the two were 14 years old growing up in the Atlanta area. Although the major difference between the two players is Hermida's eye for the strike zone. Hermida is one of the rare few in the minor leagues who was encouraged to swing more and walk less. Called up from the Double-A Carolina Mudcats, Hermida made his major league debut with the Florida Marlins on August 31, . The Marlins promoted Hermida before September 1 so that he would be eligible to be on the Marlins' postseason roster. However, the Marlins, who led the wild-card race on September 13, lost 12 of their next 14 games and were eliminated from postseason contention. In the first at-bat of his major league career, he did something only one other person had done. At Dolphin Stadium, he had a pinch hit grand slam in the seventh inning off the St. Louis Cardinals' Al Reyes on a 1-1 pitch in the Marlins' 10–5 loss. Hermida, who hit 18 home runs and 63 RBI in 118 games in Double-A, batted for pitcher Brian Moehler and homered to right field, some 373 feet away. But he made a name for himself by becoming the third player in baseball history to hit a grand slam in his first game, the second to do it in his first at-bat, and the first to pull it off as a pinch hitter. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the only other player with a grand slam in his first major league at-bat was pitcher Bill Duggleby, who did it for the Philadelphia Phillies at home against the New York Giants in the second inning on April 21, . Duggleby was the winning pitcher that day. However, since then Kevin Kouzmanoff, while on the Cleveland Indians, hit a grand slam on the first pitch of his first major league at-bat against Edinson Volquez. Bobby Bonds of the San Francisco Giants also hit a slam in his first game off Los Angeles Dodgers reliever Jack Purdin, doing so in his third plate appearance on June 25, , at Candlestick Park. The Giants won 10–0. In , he led all Major League right fielders in errors, with 9, and had the lowest fielding percentage among them, .966. Boston Red Sox On November 5, 2009, Hermida was traded to the Boston Red Sox for left-handed minor league pitchers Hunter Jones and Jose Alvarez. See also *Home run in first Major League at-bat References External links *Baseball Almanac - grand slams records *Baseball America - scouting report *Baseball Library - flashbacks *Canadian Press - article *Jeremy Hermida.com - fan site, statistics and forum Category:1984 births Category:Living people Category:All-Star Futures Game players Category:Florida Marlins players Category:Boston Red Sox players Category:Jamestown Jammers players Category:Gulf Coast Marlins players Category:Major League Baseball players from Georgia (U.S. state) Category:Major League Baseball outfielders Category:People from Atlanta, Georgia Category:People from Marietta, Georgia Category:Greensboro Bats players Category:Albuquerque Isotopes players Category:Carolina Mudcats players Category:Jupiter Hammerheads players Category:Outfielders Category:Left Fielders Category:Players